Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Standing Room Only

Arts stories
for 05/14/2017

Standing Room Only for 05/14/2017

Standing Room Only is literally radio
with pictures... and arts, theatre, film, comedy, books, dance,
entertainment and music – all the things, in other words, that make
life worth living.

Vivid Sydney
is a huge event showing off the city to the world. And this year one of
the event's major attractions, a light-show over the Opera House, will
be shown for the first time by a New Zealander, director Ash Bolland.
Ash's light installation is called Audio Creatures, described as a
"morphing, mesmeric artwork, set to the music of Brazilian
electronic producer Amon Tobin".May 14, 2017 02:50
pm

A Wellington
rapper is bringing 20 years of experience into the classrooms of low
decile schools. Fiso Siloata, also known as Flowz, has been up and down
the country helping foster emerging talent amongst children. And after
four years of teaching rap at Whitireia, he's heading back to his roots
in Wellington's Eastern suburbs to help a group of local kids.May 14, 2017 01:50
pm

One of the
most important decisions a filmmaker has to make is "How much
music to put in?" In New Zealand, the go-to composers these days
are the prolific band The Phoenix Foundation. Their track record speaks
for itself - films like Eagle versus Shark, Boy and Hunt for the
Wilderpeople for Taika Waititi. Simon Morris speaks with the band's
three composers, Sam Scott, Luke Buda, and Conrad Wedde.May 14, 2017 01:30
pm

A new
exhibition at the National Library of New Zealand is about to open on
May 20th. It's called He Tohu and it boasts three iconic constitutional
documents that shape Aotearoa. So, what are they?May 14, 2017 12:45
pm

The big arts
news this week has been the gigantic event in Venice - the fabled
Biennale. Standing Room Only's Lynn Freeman was there, partly to be
bowled over by New Zealand's contribution -- Lisa Reihana's in Pursuit
of Venus (infected) -- and partly to be knocked out by the amazing art
from the rest of the world.May 14, 2017 12:35
pm

In a unique partnership between Massey
University students and Wellington's Compassion Soup Kitchen, Te Ha
Tangata brings to light the stories of those affected by homelessness.
It's a landmark project that will culminate in the Human Library on
Homelessness.May 14, 2017 12:16
pm